


Lost Bones

by blancanieve



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bones is very busy, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Jim is searching for Bones, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 15:18:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5338892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blancanieve/pseuds/blancanieve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bones has disappeared. It's almost Christmas and Jim can't find him anywhere on the ship. How is that even possible when they're flying through space? Where is Bones?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Bones

**Author's Note:**

> Time: sometime before Christmas  
> Place: on the good ship Enterprise.

 

**Lost Bones**

**"Not all those who wander are lost."**

**J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Fellowship of the Ring"**

 

Bones was lost. He was nowhere to be found on the ship. Jim knew this because he’d been looking for him for hours. How was it even possible for Bones to be lost on a Starship flying in space? A ship not stopping anywhere, no away mission, no visitors, no shore leave?

Jim's anxiety was increasing by the hour, but he wasn’t really worried, no siree. He definitely wasn't panicking because he couldn't find his Bones; no, nope, niet, not worried at all, not one little bit. He was the Captain, damnit, a stoic, experienced, and disciplined captain, and captains did not succumb to worry. Concern yes, worry no. So yes, he was _concerned_. He had gone to their quarters after shift, no Bones. He had gone by the mess, no Bones. He had gone to the weight room, no Bones. He had even gone to the Med Bay although he knew it was Bones' day off. Christine had just looked at him strangely.

"No, Captain, I haven't seen him today. You know it's his mandatory day off, he's not really supposed to come to the Med Bay at all. Dr. M'Benga is in charge today, and he told Dr. McCoy not to set foot in the Med Bay or he'd report him to Mr. Spock."

Jim nodded. Of course, Spock! Spock would know Bones' whereabouts.  It was his job to know where all the members of the Science Department were at all times. Jim made his way back to the bridge. Spock was on Beta shift this week, so Jim had not seen him at all today. The lift took him back to the bridge and all eyes of the Beta shift crew turned his way as he got off the lift.

"Captain on the bridge," said Ensign Thomas.

"As you were everyone." Jim smiled at his crew.

Jim walked to the Captain's chair. Spock stood. "Captain? May I help you? Is something wrong?"

"No, no, Mr. Spock. I was just wondering if you've seen Dr. McCoy. I can't seem to find him anywhere this evening. We had plans to have dinner together, and I'm getting really hungry,"

"I have not seen him this shift, Captain. Let me check for you," Spock said. In a rare fit of tact, Spock did not mention to Jim that he could just have asked the ship's computer to locate Dr. McCoy.

"Computer," Spock spoke softly. "Locate the whereabouts of Dr. Leonard McCoy."

"The location of Dr. Leonard McCoy is currently unknown." The computer's annoying monotone voice responded promptly. 

Spock and Jim looked at each other. The computer was programmed to locate any crew member on board the ship at any time, be they awake, asleep, ill, injured, in the head, or in the shower. This was a built-in crew safety protocol, programmed into the ship's computer system. With such a large crew, it was imperative that the senior officers be able to locate any crew members whereabouts at any time. The bio monitor for each crew members was immediately activated when they first came on board the ship.

"It appears that Dr. McCoy has disabled his bio monitor, Captain, else the computer would be able to locate him. That implies that he does not want to be found at this time." Spock looked meaningfully at Jim.

Jim nodded. "That seems fairly obvious."

"It seems that I must have a word with the good doctor about disregarding regulations and disabling his bio monitor."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock. I guess I'll have to wait until Dr. McCoy resurfaces to find out what's going on." Jim's mind was racing rapidly through different scenarios, but his Captainly dignity remained intact as he left the bridge and got back on the lift. Dammit! Where was Bones? And why didn't he want to be found? Jim went back to their quarters to have, as Winnie the Pooh said in Joanna’s favorite book, a little think.

Jim knew the mind of Bones McCoy nearly as well as he knew his own. He sat on the sofa, got a soft drink from the replicator and began to use his tactical mind. He remembered last night when he and Bones had indulged in some truly spectacular sex and all had been right and bright in the cozy little world that was their quarters. This morning, even though Bones had the day off, he had gotten up with Jim and they'd had coffee and breakfast together. They'd talked about their day, the Christmas packages going out to Joanna, Sam, Aurelan and the boys, to Winona and Eleanora, and to Bones’ grandma too, and their plans for a nice dinner in the evening followed by a quiet drink in their quarters. Again, all had been relaxed and good between them. Jim had been given a spectacular kiss on his way out the door with the promise of more where that came from when he finished his bridge duty.

 _Hmm_ , Jim thought. Bones was up to something, of that there could be no doubt. Jim thought of all the places that one could hide on the ship. There were many, but there were definitely some places Bones would not go, his aviaphobia wouldn't let him. Jim flipped open his communicator.

"Scott here, Captain."

"Scotty, has Bones been by to see you today?"

"Nay, Sir. I have not seen the good doctor today."

"Okay, thanks Scotty. If you see him, tell him I'm looking for him, it's almost time for dinner and I'm hungry."

"Will do, Captain."

So Engineering was out, Med Bay was out, the Bridge was out, the mess was out, and the rec room was out. Jim still needed to check the library, the arboretum, the game rooms, and the Science labs. Instead of walking all over the ship, he punched in his override to the cameras mounted all around the ship and methodically checked each room one by one. He had just about given up, when he looked closely. "Bingo!" Bones was in Jim's ready room. Jim breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to admit to himself that he'd been worried, but the decrease in his heart rate and the relaxation of his shoulders told him otherwise. Jim smiled. His Ready Room was the perfect place for Bones to hide today. There was no senior officers' meeting and no briefings scheduled for this week.

Bones' back was to the camera so Jim peered closer to see what he was doing, but couldn't make heads or tails of what was in front of Bones' bent body.

Jim got up from the sofa, put down his drink, took off his uniform to put on some comfortable jeans and a soft t-shirt, then made his way to his Ready Room. He stepped up to the door and it didn't automatically open for him. Hmm, Bones had locked himself inside.

"Computer, override Captain's Ready Room locked door, code alpha 10010.

"Override confirmed. The door is unlocked."

Jim stepped through the door and stood there looking at Bones. He was so engrossed in whatever he was doing, that he hadn't even heard the door open. Jim feasted his eyes on his doctor. Bones was wearing his favorite green t shirt with his oldest and softest jeans. His broad shoulders were bent over whatever he was doing, as he hummed softly to himself. Jim walked quietly up to him, the carpet muffling the sound of his booted footsteps. He leaned in, wrapped his arms around Bones' torso, and kissed the back of his neck softly, the short hairs there tickling his mouth.

"Whacha doing, Bonsey? I've been looking for you?"

Bones jumped a foot. "Dammit, Jim! You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here? Can't a man have some privacy on this floating tin can? I thought we were going to meet for dinner, so what are you doing prowling around scaring a man half to death!"

Jim grinned. Caught! "It's way past time when we were to meet for dinner, Bones, and I've been looking all over the ship for you. You disabled your bio monitor, Doctor McCoy. That’s a big no no, you know. Mr. Spock told me he was going to have words with you about that." Jim smirked at the look of dismay that flitted over Bones' face and peered over his shoulder.

"What are you doing, Bones?"

Bones shifted his broad shoulders to block Jim's view. "Don't look! I came in here for privacy. I disabled my bio monitor because it's my mandatory day off, and I had a lot to do, and I didn't want to be disturbed." He sighed. "I might've known you'd find me."

"I'll always find you, Bonesy. You can never hide from me, you know that." Jim gave him a gentle smile, his bright blue eyes shining, filled with deep love.

"Yeah, I know," Bones huffed softly, hazel eyes softening. "Okay, you can look, but stand back while I cover some stuff up, and no peeking. Go on, now, stand back."

He pushed Jim gently off of him and away from the Ready Room table. Jim let himself be pushed. Curiosity was pulling at him, but now that he'd finally found Bones and he was here close enough for Jim to touch, he didn't much care what he was doing.

Bones stood up and turned to face Jim. His tall body and broad shoulders still blocked what was on the table, but he moved slowly out of the way. Jim stepped up to the round table. It was laden with large and small packages wrapped in gay Christmas paper and tied with large bows. Colorful name tags were sitting on each package. They were stacked neatly by size, and they had all been wrapped beautifully, carefully, and meticulously.

"Bones! Is this what you've been doing all day?"

"Yeah. This year I wanted my gifts to be a surprise. Last year I tried, but you and some of the others figured out your gifts ahead of time. Sure took all the fun out of it. This time I hid them all in Stores and today I brought them in here to wrap. They're all gonna' go under our tree, and I better not catch you tryin' to peek, Jim Kirk, you hear me? I'm not even gonna' tell you which one is yours." Bones eyebrows were in the "lightning and thunder" position, which meant he wasn't kidding around.

"Bones!" Jim laughed softly in delight. "You ole' softie, you. I thought you didn't care that much about Christmas."

"Why would you think that? Just 'cause I don't go crazy like some people do? I don't care for some of the foolishness that goes on at Christmas, but we always celebrated at my mama's house. I am what is called a Christmas gourmet. I pick a little bit here and a little bit there, just the things I like to do, drink good egg nog, eat a fine Christmas ham, find special gifts for special people, and wrap things up real pretty. I'm good at that shit. I can wrap better than any one in my family."

"You sure can, Bones." Jim looked carefully at the beautifully wrapped gifts. He felt an unaccustomed warmth all over his body as he looked at the care and attention each gift had received. He turned and looked into the warm hazel eyes of his Bones. _What the hell did I ever do to deserve this man,_ Jim thought.

"Bones…my Bones." He pressed his lips to Bones' plush, warm ones. Jim drank him in like Bones was fine wine, and just like always, Bones responded immediately and kissed him back enthusiastically. Jim drew back reluctantly. "I promise that I won't even try to peek. We'll put all the gifts under our little tree, and they'll be safe from prying eyes."

"Good. I wanna' give them to everybody when we have the Captain's Christmas party in our quarters. It'll be the bridge crew, Scotty, Keenser, Christine, and Geoffrey. If you want me to, when I put the names on them, I'll put they're from you too, Jimmy. I know you really don't have much time to shop for anything."

"Thanks, but it's okay, Bones. I've shopped some already. I just have a couple of more gifts to get." He gave Bones a small  tender smile. "I have yours hidden away, and we need to get Joanna's, Eleonora's, mom's and the rest of them sent off to be sure they'll get there on time."

"Yeah, the transport ships will be picking up and delivering gifts pretty soon. We'll wrap our gifts real pretty for Baby Girl, Mama and the rest of the folks." He burrowed his nose in the juncture of Jim's neck, his favorite Jim spot, then kissed him softly on the corner of his mouth.

Jim pulled him gently. "Come on, baby. It's dinner time. Let's get all these gifts back to our quarters and put away, then we'll go get some dinner. I'm really hungry." 

Bones sighed. His mandatory day off was almost over. He'd had a great time sitting alone in Jim's Ready Room wrapping his gifts. It satisfied something in him to make the gifts look perfect. They looked real pretty too, even if he did say so himself. He had to admit, he was kind of proud of his gift wrapping skills. His mama had taught him how to wrap, starting him out at the age of 6 with easy boxes. Under her exacting eye, he'd learned to wrap every shape of gift imaginable.

"If you want, I can help you wrap your gifts too, Jim." He looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Jim didn't even crack a smile. If Bones wanted to help him and it made him happy, who was he to say no. "That would be awesome, Bones. I couldn't even begin to wrap my gifts as pretty as you do."

Bones beamed. "Good, we'll get started whenever you want. Let's go eat, darlin'."

"Ah, Bones, it'd be a good idea if you turned your bio monitor back on now, don't you think? We wouldn't want Spock to come looking for you in our quarters a little later after dinner, would we? I plan for us to be pretty busy after dinner." Jim wagged his eyebrows up and down suggestingly.

Bones looked horrified. "Hell, no! Having the hobgoblin come into our quarters would give me indigestion for sure. I'm turning it back on right now, Jim." He did so, and leaned in to steal another kiss. "Now, I'm really lookin' forward to dessert," he whispered softly in Jim's ear. "So let's  hurry up and eat, darlin'."


End file.
